Sincerely, Aishatu✅

17; Dos Oruguitas.

THE SURGERY turned out to be tougher than Aisha anticipated--for a first timer especially. Nonetheless, she managed to keep herself together and did her job well. She could tell from the beginning that Aslam wasn't the same person he is outside the OR. While in surgery, he was more focused on his job and nothing else. For that moment, he seemed like a completely different person.

He was on full surgeon mode—there's no denying that.

It took about five hours, and as the clock neared two, they were done. The patient was then moved to the ICU while the two along with the other Muslims headed out to pray in their respective locations.

Before that though, she and Aisha met the Abd Al-Rasheed family that were waiting outside. Aslam told her she could go ahead and rest while he speaks to them. She didn't really think much into it and allowed him to do so.

In all honestly, Aisha was exhausted. She had only assisted surgeries a handful of times considering their seniors were mostly in charge of it. The Professors believe the fourth year residents are more qualified for that and in a way, she agrees with them.

At the same time, she also believes that it's not always a bad choice to allow them to help whenever they can.

With her shoulders slumped slightly, she headed back to her office and prayed. Jannah was nowhere in sight, and her only idea was that the girl is busy in the ER or with other patients. Nonetheless, after praying, she rested in her office till after Asr prayers. After observing her prayers then, she simply shrugged on a white coat over her scrubs and headed out.

Soon enough she reached her destination, which was the ICU. She knew he hadn't woken up by then considering he will take about two to four hours and even after that, he'll need to stay in the ICU for a day or two. She couldn't help but worry though, so she found a chair outside and settled on it.

Technically, it's been two hours since the surgery since it was a bit past four at the moment. But she is sure the patient hasn't woken up, else she and Aslam would've been informed already.

Her hands were tucked in the pocket of the white coat, as she leaned back and allowed her body to slump on the chair. She knew she had work to do, but she knew her best friend would help her with it so she wanted to stay there. For some reason, doing that gives her a little bit of peace. It's been the same during the few times she assisted any surgery. She always stays outside the ICU and wait despite knowing they won't wake up at that moment.

It was quiet, except for the occasional nurses and doctors checking up on the patients. Otherwise, the place wasn't that noisy. Aisha didn't know how much time passed, but judging by the way things were slowly began to change, it couldn't be more than an hour.

"I didn't think I would see you here"

She blinked, swiveling her head to the source of the voice. "Well, I didn't think I would see you either" She responded earnestly, without giving much thought to it.

"It's been three hours since the surgery, so..." Aslam shrugged slightly, as he reached where she sat. Just like her, he didn't change out of his scrubs. He only had on a white coat over it. He then took the space beside her, making sure to maintain a reasonable distance. "Latte?" He offered, extending her one of the two Venti latte he held in both hands.

Her head tilted to the side slightly. "You got two lattes for yourself?" Aslam could be weird, that much she could tell. Else, why would he get two lattes for himself?

"Well, technically...I got it for this woman I'm planning to wife, yeah?"

She hummed and then quirked a brow slightly—something that took her so long to learn. She wanted to tease him about planning to get married soon—there was this urge to do so that felt so natural to her—yet at the same time, she managed to stop herself because at the end of the day, he is just a stranger that has been working in their hospital for a week, who is still her superior.